We all know that Kevin Love is great. The 22-year old Love is almost indisputably the NBA’s best rebounder, launches threes like a guard and makes 43% of them, knows how to score inside, and is an exceptional passer for a big man. He’s not quite a go-to scorer, and his defense is an issue, but with the right team around him, one can easily imagine Love being the second or third best player on a serious title contender.

However, thanks to Minnesota’s collection of inconsistent swingmen, incompetent defenders, and lottery picks that don’t play for the team, Love is stuck on the 9-26 Minnesota Timberwolves. Love’s rookie contract has been extended to the summer of 2012 and the Wolves almost certainly will extend him one more year beyond that (he can sign an extension this summer, if the two sides can agree), but without a major change one expects that he’ll give going to a different team serious thought.

Wherever Love goes, he won’t come cheap. The five-year, $60 million extensions signed by Joakim Noah and Al Horford last year will likely be Love’s starting point in negotiations. And his deal could be bigger. When asked what kind of contract Love could be in line for this summer, one league executive’s answer was succinct: Max.

Then there is this: Love told SI.com that during last summer’s World Championship in Turkey he had conversations with USA Basketball teammates Russell Westbrook (who played with Love at UCLA) and Derrick Rose about the possibility of someday teaming up in the NBA. Oklahoma City’s Westbrook and Chicago’s Rose are also permitted to sign extensions this summer.

“We all talk about playing together,” Love said. “It’s fun to talk about. When the time comes, we’ll assess the situation and figure it out.”

Well, that’s certainly interesting. Since the Bulls have already committed to Carlos Boozer, it’s unlikely that Love and Rose will play on the same team any time soon.

Love and Westbrook, however, is a distinct possibility. Oklahoma City has Jeff Green coming off the books after this season, and Love would represent a huge upgrade over the versatile but inconsistent Green. Oklahoma also has plenty of cap space, and the prospect of playing with Westbrook and Kevin Durant should be pretty exciting to a player like Love.

Love’s efficient, unselfish style of play would make him a natural fit with Westbrook and Durant. Love wouldn’t improve Oklahoma City’s biggest issue, an inability to defend the rim, but I imagine they’ll have found some way to shore up that weakness by the time Love’s rookie deal runs out and he becomes a restricted free agent.

On paper, Oklahoma City and Love seem like a perfect fit — a young star lighting it up for an irrelevant team and an up-and-coming young team looking for one more good-to-great player to put them over the top. However, as we saw last summer, it’s hard to predict what will happen in free agency before the deals actually get signed, and Love’s free agency is a long way off. We’ll see how this develops over the next few years.

This isn’t even speculation..this is just a straight conspiracy theory. It’s easy to take a small bit of a conversation that happened months ago out of context to fit any angle you please.. Not even comparing the two, but I love how Blake Griffin is the “future” of the Clippers, whereas Love is wasting away in Minny and needs to get out.. Wolves future looks a lot brighter than the Clips, not by much, but brighter

Well just remember 2 years ago we all new Lebron was headed to the Knicks. I agree it is all speculation. The reason people jump on Griffen’s nuts so quick (this site especially) is because the amazing things he does jump out at you. Unlike Love who does a lot of little things crazy good. I mean he was 6 rebounds shy of matching the rebound total for boston last night and 1 offensive rebound shy of matching the celtics. Although they went crazy when he had the 30-30 but he still doesn’t get enough respect.

wow you guys removed my post? why? because i told you love leaving scott free with minnesota doing nothing to retain him? minnesota wouldn’t match any and every offer he gets? if they did let him go they wouldnt get a mega deal for him? grow up and grow a pair and own up to getting pwned by an everyday sports fan

Posts are blocked here due to language or personal insults of the writers or other commenters. Also, posts are edited but sometimes a while after they go up, so corrections can be up later after comments are made. Trust me, not personal.

Besides, after this summer, I think the real story is guys talking about teaming up in a few years. It well may not happen, but it’s hard to ignore that kind of thing now.

So what if they talked about teaming up last summer. That was before Michael Beasely(a good friend of Love’s) leading the team in scoring, Wes Johnson stroking silky smooth 3’s(very Ray Allen like), and Darko helping him out in the paint(blocking shots and rebounding). If Love is a max player, Durant’s a max player, and Westbrook would be a max, are they going to be able to afford all three? I’ve noticed that Darko gets ripped a ton on this website. For what he’s making(5 mill a year) he blocks shots, rebounds, and is working on a decent hook shot that soon may be hard to defend. Plus I’ve seen him, at 7′ plus, dive head first for a loose ball. At least he’s trying to earn his paycheck and improve. For what T-Wolves fans have seen at the center position, Darko is no worse than Rasho, Dean Garrett, and Michael Olawa-can’t-be.

you know what? i changed my mind love and beasly will leave because they’re the only 2 that can do sh.it…..the rest of the twolves can go to hell…this team sucks….we lost to bobcat team negative: capt. jack and gerald wallace???? and a nugget team with no melo, no martin, no nene….worthe=less